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11 December 2017

Chris McVeigh got his hands on some 2018 LEGO® sets already and gives us a quick look at two exciting new pieces of foliage inside them.

LEGO has introduced a new flower element and matching leaf element, and it looks as though they’ll be quickly rolled into many 2018 sets (including 10260 Downtown Diner). Happily, they’re now hitting shelves in the newest Juniors Friends sets, which I picked up so that I could examine the parts in detail.

7 December 2017

ENTRY IS NOW CLOSED. All received entries will be published on the blog in a few days' time.

After a long absence, in 2018 The LEGO® Group will be reintroducing teal-coloured LEGO elements (Bright Bluish Green [TLG]/ Dark Turquoise [BL]) and the team here at New Elementary are so excited, we're running a competition!

You may recall the 'Mark Stafford Killed Teal' story (if not, it is reproduced below) which inspired Elspeth De Montes to create this LEGO model recently...

Elspeth's creation provoked quite a funny reaction. When New E contributor Jeremy Williams saw it he began to wonder about other ways that Mark Stafford might have killed teal, and suggested this contest to me. And when Mark Stafford it on Twitter, it raised strange anxieties in him:

Beware builders, I fear one day teal may rise again! Zombie-teal. With strange eons even death may die. :) I would have to kill it again!

4 December 2017

With the surprise re-release of the LEGO® Taj Mahal, fans have been wondering why The LEGO Group settled on this particular classic set, and whether anything has been changed. Sven Franic is here to shed some light on a set containing no new elements or techniques. The 5,923-piece set is now available priced £299.99 / US$369.99 / 329.99€.

What I love most about the Creator Expert theme’s “Landmark” series, or Sculptures as they used to be called back in 2008 when 10189 Taj Mahal was first released, is that they include a low number of lots and very high brick counts. This is great for amassing substantial quantities of bricks of the same type by buying just one copy of the set. This is simply a symptom of a very large and intricate model, but this type of inventory also probably played a major role in the decision to bring it out of the vault after nine years, despite all the conspiracy theories running wild over the internet about what was behind this move. To understand why, we have to go back in time for a second.

26 November 2017

Somewhere in among designing his latest range of gorgeous Christmas ornaments, Chris McVeigh managed to find the time to crack open THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE 70922 The Joker Manor for us and, having assembled its 3444 pieces, dissected it again to locate all the exciting new and recoloured LEGO elements - including its completely new rollercoaster system! The set is now available priced £249.99 / US$269.99 / 269.99€.

The Joker Manor is a sprawling set that imagines Wayne Manor has been overtaken and aggressively remodelled by the Joker (as seen in THE LEGO® BATMAN MOVIE). It’s a brilliant display piece with a glitzy, colourful entrance, oversized spring-loaded boxing gloves, a garish, glaring tower, and naturally, giant “The Joker” branding. However, the real showstopper is the rollercoaster that encircles the manor. With this set LEGO introduces an all-new car and track system that is sure to appear in many upcoming product lines, from City to Creator Expert.

In this article I’ll closely examine the new rollercoaster elements, highlight other new parts, and discuss interesting recolours and reissues.

11 November 2017

And now for something completely different. We were sent a review copy of an unusual book about LEGO® which piqued my interest. Who better to examine it than our occasional contributor David Alexander Smith, who runs the mind-stimulating blog Building Debates which "takes a look at the LEGO community and the theoretical and aesthetic discussions it raises". But if deep thought about our favourite kids' toy is not your thing, you may instead prefer to revisit the Classic Space Tortoise David made for us!

Neal Stephenson in Seveneves, his 2015 epic speculative novel of human survival following a catastrophic cosmic event – the destruction of the moon – describes the technology that allows the quick assembly of the space craft in terms of an element based kit language reminiscent of LEGO building. In fact he explicitly uses the phrasing ‘LEGO-like’. On this hinges the premise that humanity will endure the worst of times through ingenuity and creative thinking, mediated through the limited resources and components of this restricted technological system. It is an unusually positive assessment as to what our combined intellectual endeavours might achieve in an era often obsessed with the critical appraisal of our species’ actions and the gloomy prognoses that follow.

6 November 2017

Can we talk about Christmas yet? I guess so; LEGO® Creator Expert 10259 Winter Village Holiday Station has been available for over a month now (902 pieces, priced £74.99 / US$79.99 / 69.99€). Today, Sven Franic explores the new parts included and gets inspired to build.

A year since we saw the 10254 Winter Village Holiday Train, presumably picking up passengers randomly along the line, a train station is finally here to restore some order to the holiday chaos.

Although the Winter Village Holiday sets are part of the Creator Expert line, there isn't all that much expert in them. This is also acknowledged by the 12+ marking on the box compared to most other sets in the line which are 16+.

2 November 2017

Back in the 1960s the LEGO® Group created a new kind of brick, for adults. Self-confessed LEGO history geek Francesco Spreafico has kindly agreed to translate another of his great articles for us, which he first published in Italian on his excellent blog Old Bricks.

In past articles I mentioned Modulex bricks a few times, but I never fully explained what these bricks actually were; I think that now the time has come to write a brief introduction about them.

At the beginning of the 1960s Godtfred Kirk Christiansen had to design a real building and, as an extension to regular drawings, he created a physical model of the building using LEGO® bricks. Since he had found this process to be very useful, he decided to have a new system developed, a system that was not compatible with the LEGO System, but that was optimised for this kind of architectural design. These new bricks – the Modulex bricks – were put on the market in 1963 and they were intended only for architects, the category they had been created for.

30 October 2017

Today brings the final post in our current parts festival giving you inspiration for using new LEGO® pieces. Last time, Peter Reid and friends gave us Neo-Classic Space micro spaceships but today Peter's creations are more more eclectic. On that note, where better to start than with a...

26 October 2017

Our latest parts festival is nearing its end but fear not, we have some models from Peter Reid and his pals, using the parts he took home after attending our final session. Although he rarely makes instructions of his work, Peter has listed which of the new parts he used in each model, so you can get hold of the ones you're less likely to have.

LL611

This first model, a Neo-Classic Space (NCS) micro ship, was made during the New Elementary workshop in Portugal. I wasn't sure I'd be able to make anything decent in an unfamiliar building environment, but it turned out fine; after one or two false starts I had this little beauty in hand. I managed to safely bring it home and put the ship in a safe place, ready for photography. I immediately lost it, and had to recreate it from pictures taken by the lovely Miguel. Parts used: 2 x 29120, 2 x 29119, 1 x 25892

23 October 2017

I'm not a big fan of vehicles, but I love a good arch. That's why I store my LEGO® mudguard pieces in my box of arch bricks instead of my 'vehicle bits' box! Mudguards make interesting arches, especially for the tops of windows.

So I was happy to see a new mudguard come out last summer, called 'Mudguard 3X4, W/ Plate, No. 1' by TLG and 'Vehicle, Mudguard 4 x 3 x 1 with Arch Curved' on BrickLink. I chose it, in Dark Stone Grey [TLG]/ Dark Bluish Gray [BL], to be one of the pieces featured in our PdC Parts Festival workshops in Portugal where it proved very popular. Today I want to explore its geometry a little more, in the hope of inspiring you to use it in interesting ways.

19 October 2017

Here are the results from the final day of our first ever live parts festival, where AFOLs from all over the world who were attending the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend last June were given just over an hour to come up with ideas of what might be possible using a range of new LEGO® parts. See the parts selection here.

Bill Ward

At the rear of his spaceship, Bill created rather neat vector thrust capability by creating oval shapes from pairs of Mudguard 3X4, W/ Plate, No. 1 (6178912 | 28326). I will show you a breakdown of this technique in my next post, when I explore the geometry of this part a little more deeply.

14 October 2017

At the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal we ran a live 'parts festival' workshop and afterwards, some participants took the new LEGO® parts home to continue experimenting. Alexandre Campos (the Ambassador for PLUG, the Portuguese LEGO User Group) is usually a LEGO Technic builder, so it's a good thing that our parts festivals are all about challenging people! Alexandre sent us this build using the parts and explains how the parts inspired him.

"Guys, I think we got the wrong address. Could you open the portal back home? Uh, guys? Guys?..."

11 October 2017

AFOLs from all over the world took part in our first ever live parts festival in June in Portugal at the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend. Each day, 15 builders had just over an hour to explore what might be done with a range of new LEGO® parts. See the parts selection here, but today let's look at what the second round of LEGO fans came up with.

9 October 2017

For the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal, Jonas Kramm had the idea of running a live New Elementary parts festival (see the parts selection here) and we are now in the process of showing you the results. Afterwards, some participants took the new LEGO® parts home to continue experimenting and today we show you the first result; created by Jonas himself.

Inspired by Blade Runner 2049, I wanted to build something related to the movie franchise. The iconic police spinner vehicle has already been made by several builders in flawless ways, so I came up with the idea to give my model a more creative twist and mixed Blade Runner with the Steampunk art genre.

7 October 2017

Our first ever live parts festival (or "parts party" as regular reader Håkan put it!) took place in June in Portugal at the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend. Each day, 15 builders had just over an hour to explore what might be done with a range of new LEGO® parts. See the parts selection here, but today let's look at what the first round of LEGO fans came up with.

Michael Studman

Yes, that's his real name. Jeal much?

Most of the seed parts are present in this characterful chihuahua! Funny, I never thought to use Boomerang (6153574 | 25892) as the structure of a dog's body...

4 October 2017

Back in June, we had a first for New Elementary; our first ever live parts festival! We've run several online parts festivals in the past, where we take some of the newest elements released by the LEGO® Group and challenge builders to explore what they might be used for. This time around, regular contributor Jonas Kramm proposed that we run a workshop at the Paredes de Coura (PdC) Fan Weekend in Portugal to see what builders could come up with - in the space of an hour!

30 September 2017

The new experience centre/museum in Billund, LEGO® House, has now opened to the public but on Friday 22 September 2017 there was a special pre-opening event for hundreds of LEGO fans from around the world. I was lucky enough to be one of them, so here are some photos from the day. If you are planning to go yourself, you might consider any photos to be 'spoilers' but I am glad to report that there is just so much to do and enjoy inside LEGO House, the photos I'd seen beforehand really didn't spoil much for me and I trust this post won't either.

General manager of LEGO House Jesper Vilstrup welcomes us along with third-generation owner, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen. Behind them is a lenticular made of cheese slopes (Design ID 54200) that shows either the company motto or portraits of the four generations of family owners, depending where you stand.

20 September 2017

Today, Chris McVeigh (powerpig) reviews the fantastic new range of LEGO® parts found in 70620 NINJAGO City, the largest of the sets from The LEGO NINJAGO Movie range, which went on sale this month priced at £259.99 / US$299.99 / 299.99€.

At 4867 parts, NINJAGO City is one of the biggest LEGO® sets ever. It's visually rich, incredibly detailed, and great fun to build.

The city itself is divided into three sections, coinciding with three hefty building guides. Level 1: The Old World is built atop a murky waterway. On that level you’ll find a fish market, robot maintenance room, and the base of the elevator. Level 2: The Street is a busy pedestrian area that is home to shops and services, including a comic book store, clothing store, and crab kitchen. Up on Level 3: The High Rise, you’ll find Lloyd’s and Misako’s shared apartment, a rooftop sushi restaurant, and a luxury bathroom.

In this article I’ll discuss new parts and how they’re used, highlight some of the more interesting recolours, and then look at the set’s clever roofing techniques.

12 September 2017

When an additional copy of the new LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, accidentally arrived at New Elementary Towers from Billund, I figured it was a serendipitous opportunity to do something a bit different. So I entrusted it to a new contributor, Jay Phoenix, with the open-ended and therefore challenging brief of "do something different with it". He did, and his mother Jea did too; she made the second model in this post!

The modern world can be an overwhelming experience for some people – with such technical advancements as social media, smartphones and anti-spill bottles, some people just wanna retreat back to the good ol’ days where the best way to meet strangers was visiting the pub, phones were only used for phoning people and if you knocked over your cup of coffee the carpet below would have to live with the consequences. The Anton family largely fell into this group, and after their fishing store went bankrupt from investing in several dud products, they decided to do the most logical thing a family would do in this situation and completely rebuild their store into a small fishing boat so they could traverse the waves, away from the many trappings of today’s world.

28 August 2017

One of the many who regularly display at Bricktastic, the LEGO® show in Manchester in aid of Fairy Bricks, is Alexander Jones works as a LEGO Model Designer for TT Games, so if you're into LEGO video games you've surely played with his models before. But Bricktastic provided the opportunity to see Alex play with his own models! Including Arcee, one of the Autobots from the Transformers franchise which is a favoured subject of his.

22 August 2017

Are you already registered to come to Skærbæk Fan Weekend in Denmark in late September? If not, I am afraid you are too late for this year, folks... but if you are registered: New Elementary will be running a one-off special building workshop and we'd love you to come and build with some new elements!

17 August 2017

Respect to Sven Franic. He received New Elementary's review copy of the LEGO® Ideas set, 21310 Old Fishing Store, on Friday and by Monday he had delivered me a spectacular and thorough review of the parts, minifigures and colours in this huge and gorgeous new set. As if that wasn't enough, he had to leave for Slovenia that day... so, just in case the review needed more work, he took the set with him! Well, no more work was required but Sven has nevertheless sent us some "fishing holiday" pics.

14 August 2017

Coming 1st September 2017, LEGO® Ideas 21310 Old Fishing Store has 2,049 pieces - the highest number ever for a LEGO Ideas set - and will retail for £139.99 / US$149.99 / 149.99€. Sven Franic is here to tell you all about the colours, parts and minifigures you will find in this stunning fan-designed set.

I remember the day the LEGO® Ideas review results arrived with the news that the Old Fishing Store by fan builder Robert Bontenbal (RobenAnne) would be made into a set. A lot of us hoped for it, but never thought such a large project would be deemed feasible by the LEGO Ideas team. A particularly attractive feature was the colour scheme in Sand Green and the inclusion of so many accessories and animals, most notably the seagull which was only briefly featured with one of the characters in the 2013 collectible minifigures series 10.

7 August 2017

This week, over 300 new, recoloured or printed parts were revealed on Brickset, but there was one in particular that hasn't been listed yet. We will have one from the LEGO® Group soon - but Elspeth De Montes already has her paws on it, and it just might be the most useful new LEGO piece of 2017...

When the first images of a new set are made public, some fans like to admire the minifigures, other start comparing the accuracy of the set or its relevance within a theme or perhaps even imagine how it would look on their shelf. Others, like my fellow New Elementary contributor Chris McVeigh, prefer to scan for new parts, or parts in new colours.

3 August 2017

We love a good arch brick here at New Elementary, so when our good friend Richard Jones posted this article on his excellent blog The Rambling Brick recently, we just had to share. He's kindly allowed us to re-post it here as a guest post.

One of the great things about LEGO® bricks is the system: the way elements fit together and interact with each other, sometimes in unexpected ways. Studs and tubes are easy to understand. As are minifigure hands and the way they plug into the end of a tube or anti stud, or clip over a 3.18mm bar. Every so often you come across a new set of interactions, and wonder just how far these relationships between elements extend.

24 July 2017

It seems everyone has been enjoying the LEGO® colour collections that Elspeth De Montes displayed at Bricktastic, the show in aid of Fairy Bricks in Manchester, UK. Today she takes things up a notch; here are the MOCs she displayed whose sole purpose was to incorporate some colour collections within the build.

Elsie’s Garden

18 July 2017

Today, Elspeth De Montes continues her parade of LEGO® pieces in different colours! Why? Because LEGO.

The hugely oversized Spider (Part 30238) is a force to be reckoned with, appearing in over 110 sets in 10 different colours. My own personal favourite is the Glow In Dark White [BL]/White Glow [TLG] breed which you see on the left (glowing thanks to the magic of Photoshop). It crawled into one LEGO Lord of the Rings set and four Monster Fighters sets, all released in 2012. Flat Silver [BL]/ Silver Metallic [TLG] only appeared in 30238 Spyclops Infiltration as part of the Ultra Agents theme, while Black is by far the commonest colour to be used in sets. See the full range of available colours and their current prices on BrickLink.

17 July 2017

At Bricktastic, the LEGO® show in Manchester in aid of Fairy Bricks, New Elementary had a table featuring Nexogon models by Luc Byard, Tim Goddard and Gary Davis as well as models by Jason Briscoe and Rod Gillies. And then there were the delightful, random Colourtastic creations by Elspeth De Montes!

It’s no secret that I love LEGO® colours. I have been seen immersed in Dark Azure here in the past, but recently I joined New Elementary for some colourtastic fun at Bricktastic, which is a great show because there are lots of young, excited LEGO fans, no barriers around the models and plenty of time and space to interact.

5 July 2017

I shot a couple of quick videos on my phone at Bricktastic, the LEGO® show in aid of Fairy Bricks.

It was an awesome event! As you can see, plenty of people, but also plenty of space to move around. This was a deliberate move by the organisers to ensure people didn't get stressed by the crowds or feel they couldn't stop and stare at something for ages... like these amazing models....

2 July 2017

We're live from Manchester! Bricktastic, the event run by the wonderful charity Fairy Bricks, is underway and the quality of models is outstanding. It's a really relaxed event thanks to the generous space, carefully managed crowd numbers and the lack of doof-doof music!

Here's a very random look at some of the AFOL creations on display - sorry not to be more polished with this post, it's been hard to find the time. Enjoy!

20 June 2017

In four years we have only ever run two competitions on New Elementary, primarily because I hate saying one awesome thing is better than another awesome thing! For any of you following our LEGO® lettering contest, it is needless to say that we've had a really tough time judging this one. We know you guys are super-creative, but the quantity AND quality of entries nevertheless blew us away!

Didn't see them? Here are a few to give you a taste, but it's really worth seeing the lot!

16 June 2017

Here are the final entries received for our LEGO® lettering contest. Looks like you guys have been enjoying them as much as I have! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

14 June 2017

We are down to the penultimate bunch of entries into our LEGO® lettering contest. Yes, nearly there! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

13 June 2017

Some more great entries to our LEGO® lettering contest are ready for you to enjoy! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

11 June 2017

Here are fifteen more entries submitted to our LEGO® lettering contest. Some 'out of the box' ideas today! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

10 June 2017

Hey - it's our birthday! New Elementary began four years ago today, and what better way to celebrate than with more wonderful ideas submitted to our LEGO® lettering contest! Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

Steven Throm

"I designed the letters to have a keystone that is located as far to the upper left as possible. It is with a 45 degree angle or a quarter round. Each letter fits into a 4 stub by 5 stud rectangle."

8 June 2017

Well I did promise to message our competition winners yesterday but life has a habit of getting in the way! However us judges are indeed working to whittle down all the entries we received (more than 100!) to a mere three - it's not easy I can tell you. You guys are awesome! I'm absolutely blown away with the variety and ingenuity of the entries.

In the meantime, we can now share all these great entries with you. With so many, they will be split over several posts. Click any image to view larger.

For all images, please be aware that COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY THE ENTRANT. So, for example, using their design or posting these images elsewhere without their consent might not be cool with them. If you want to get in touch with someone, you can use the contact form (on desktop version of the site in the righthand column) to ask me, and I will let them know.

3 June 2017

I've been discussing this on Twitter, but figured it was worth sharing with everyone. Many new set inventories for Summer 2017 have been uploaded onto the LEGO® Group's online parts database this week, so we get our first glimpse of new parts that we will soon be able to buy. A couple of people including occasional New E contributor Chris McVeigh pointed out one in particular.